Well, it's been quite a while since I've been in here...over two months in fact.  Sorry about being MIA, folks.  I went home in February for two weeks to spend some time with the family....stayed with Mum and Dad, and got to spend some time with my brother, sister-in-law and my three gorgeous nephews.  I thought the boys would have forgotten me in the time since I left NSW, but no...the two older boys remembered their Aunty Jane    The youngest was only a babe in arms when I moved over here, so it was to be expected that he wouldn't know me, but it didn't take long for him to be friendly and happy to see me, which was just wonderful.

I had my birthday while I was over there.  Mum and I headed off on the train to Sydney for the day to visit the Art Gallery of NSW to see the Pissaro exhibition.  It was a long day with around 9 hours of it taken up in train travel, but we had a lovely time.  We had a sandwich in the park next to the Art Gallery for lunch, which was really nice.  Just goes to prove that so often the simplest things in life are so often the best.  :)

I got to catch up with extended family as well.  My Aunt and Uncle came over from their place near Crookwell and had lunch with us before continuing on to my cousin's place to stay there for a couple of days.  I also got to catch up with my cousin and his family, as well as being fortunate enough to have my first couple of spinning lessons from Heather.  That was just so much fun and I learnt so much.  Thanks heaps, Heather.  :)  I spent a small fortune on fibre...lol...but that's half the joy of learning how to spin...lol  I'm certainly set for quite some time for lovely hand dyed silks to blend with my wool, as well as lots of beautiful coloured wool to blend with my raw fleece.

Dad and I also headed out to Wattle Flat for an afternoon where I got to catch up with some lovely old friends from my days out that way.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to spend as much time with them as I'd have liked, but hopefully I won't leave it so long next time before I go back home to visit.  Dad and Lewis were working really hard to get the shearing shed finished in time for crutching, so it was hard to work in times to borrow Dad's car to get out and about.  :)

Now, to the looming front...lol  I got my pledges finished and posted for TTT.  100 preemie hats, 33 pairs of booties (ok, I cheated on the booties and had a friend needle knit 30 pairs of them...lol), and 20 fleece blankies.  I'm now currently working on some children's sized hats for Kogo, an Australian charity group, just for a change in size of work.  Then will get back to baby and preemie items.  I haven't signed up for the next round of challenges for TTT....yet...lol  I want to make some items for my local hospital here as winter approaches.  But I have no doubt, I won't be able to resist signing up for more pledges for TTT as well....lol 

I'm also getting back into some sewing.  I've decided we don't have enough warm bed coverings for the coming winter in the house, so I've started making a new patchwork quilt for the bed.  I used to make a lot of log cabin quilts, but never kept one for myself...surprise, surprise....lol  So this time, I'm going to make a few that we actually keep here at home...lol  And no surprise here, but I've already got plans to make some baby quilts as well...lol  I'll probably make some to send to Teresa for TTT as well as some for the local hospital here in Perth.

Besides my two week holiday back east, I've also managed to spend some time in hospital having surgery.  The surgeon tells me this was just round one of a number of operations over the next 6 months or so.  Blah...but if it does the job, I'm not going to complain toooooooooo much...lol  I'm starting to heal up nicely now...at that annoying really itchy stage...lol...and I go back to see him in another 13 days to discuss what happens in round two.  Hopefully it won't take too long to get into hospital for that next operation.  I was extremely lucky with the first one....I saw the surgeon on the Thursday, and was being operated on the following Tuesday afternoon.  He decided it was about time something was done about my hydradinitis problem...and about time too...lol  I've asked a few surgeons over the past 3 or 4 years to do something about it, but they all shied away from it.  At least this surgeon has plenty of experience with this problem and is very familar with the surgery required.  Thanks again to my gastro specialist for referring me to this particular surgeon.

On the upside, my Crohn's seems to be behaving itself lately...touch wood.  :)  The new tablets I was started on along with the weekly injection, seems to be holding me well.  I'm also currently participating in a probiotic clinical trial with the hospital and I'm hoping that's helping too.  I've been wanting to go on probiotics since I was first diagnosed at the start of last year, but was told to wait until I was eligible to enter the trial.

Well, time to get back to the looms and sewing machine.  Just wanted to pop in and say hi to you all and explain my absence.  Hopefully I'll be a little more regular with my posts in the future. 

Happy looming everyone.

Hugs,
Jane in Australia  :)